The Buying Process and Measuring Digital

It's been awhile. I think my last article was last July. Mainly I wasn't reading anything that seemed original or interesting and then this article by Beth Freedman, a blogger on MediaPost's Marketing:Travel caught my eye.

It's not just about travel, though. And Beth is not the first person to advocate looking beyond eyeball and click counts, but her emphasis on using marketing programs to support people as they move through the buying process, is fundamental. Rarely do I talk with people who pay any attention to the buying cycle, in general, and for their product or service specifically. Here is one I used in connection with our information service, EarthSayers.tv, the voices of sustainability.


Measure Twice, Cut Once (excerpt from Freedman post)

"Digital advertising is immensely measurable. But are you measuring the right things?
Recently, a colleague gave a presentation on display advertising. Among the greatest reaction he received was to the portion that talked about how click-through is no longer the end-all, be-all measure of display advertising performance.

Frankly, it's a good thing that click-through isn't the only measure of success of display advertising or we'd all be sunk. Only about 32% of internet users actually click on display banners, and the demographics on those who do click don't exactly create excitement among marketers.

The good news is that we're seeing a lot of evidence that display advertising functions far beyond just serving as a direct link to your website. At their simplest, banners can have a similar impact on consumers that driving by a billboard does. At their more intricate, website takeovers and rich media units may even begin to broach the type of exposure and impact that TV can have.

And yet, if you're measuring solely on clicks, you'll likely deem these elements a failure.

It's not to say that your target audience doesn't click. But where and when they click is much more dependent on the point in the purchase funnel at which you catch them. And how you evaluate each element of your digital presence should be based on that timing."